Cheap or just very lazy…?

I don’t know about you but I am guessing that during a career that spanned 17 years, five presidential terms, and crossed six states someone would have taken more than a single photo of Jose Canseco. That may not be the case if you look at cards produced by Donruss in 2005. They went and took a single photo of Jose taken during his second stint with the Oakland Athletics and plastered it on close to 40 different baseball cards. They even tried to be sneaky by altering the image (changing it to black & white), cropping it, and even going as far as hiring someone to do an art piece but they used that very same image for the art! Hmm….now that I think about it, maybe Donruss really loved that photo, a lot.

A good example of photo recycling would be the shot below, first seen in 1992 Topps and later over a decade later in 2004 by Topps on two different cards. Only a dedicated, long-time collector or Jose Canseco fan would recognize the image was re-used. To most, they would either be too busy looking at the game-used bat or disappointed that they didn’t pull and Ichiro or Pujols.

Kudos, to Topps for a great recycle job. Oh wait, never mind. Topps is the company that released a classic 1986 Topps Traded and recycled the image 17 years later and completely fucked it up.

“Oh Face” prize selected!

Last week I asked the readers of Wax Heaven to show me their best “Oh-Face” on a baseball card and boy did they ever. In the end, one contestant was left standing and he goes by the moniker of “L.O”. Well, after a couple of days I recieved an e-mail from L.O with his selection for a prize. He skipped the Black Refractor from Topps Finest and the game-used of the deceased Twins hero and instead went with last year’s All-Star starting pitcher Dan Haren and his 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces autographed card. Along with the card, which he will receive at no cost (not even postage), he will also receive an awesome 1/1 hand-drawn piece from the first lady of baseball cards, the Infamous Tatiana.

Congratulations, L.O and to everyone that entered the contest, good try! Don’t worry, the next contest is coming on Valentine’s Day and the prizes will be completely new. So stay tuned and if you have friends who like baseball cards and don’t know of Wax Heaven, well—spread the word! We takin’ ova!

By the way, by some miracle, the Baseball Card Blog has finally linked to Wax Heaven. Thank you, Ben.

 

2008 Topps Series Two (WOW!!!)

I normally never touch anything series two but this product will include (if you are the luckiest man alive) a dual autograph cut signature of John F. Kennedy/Richard Nixon card. I say it will sell on eBay for $5,000+. Am I wrong?

 

2008 SP Legendary Cuts preview

I was close to buying this product in 2007 but was told by the card shop owner, no less….not to go near it. This year’s product details are now available and while the cards look alright, I don’t think it’s a must-buy for me.

Product details:

$9.99 per pack, 4 cards per pack, 12 packs per box, 16 boxes per case.

Arrives in late-May and only guarantees 4 memorabilia cards and 12 short-print base cards per box. If you invest in an entire case, you are guaranteed 2 cut-signatures. With my luck, it’s best I stay away from this stuff.

2008 SPx preview!

Last year’s best-reviewed product, SPx is back and the first images don’t impress much. Hopefully they just chose the worst-possible images because this is definitely a downgrade from 2007.

Product details:

$19.99 per pack, 3 cards per pack

10 packs per box, 10 boxes per case

Box Breakdown: 4 autographs, 5 game-used, 1 patch game used

Heavenly Collections - Jose Canseco

The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Jerry and Newman. We all have our rivals in this life and I did not know of mine until I met a “super collector” by the name of Bryan. I once bragged to collectors about my 1,000+ (730 different) Jose Canseco cards, Bryan quietly showed off his 2,432 in the pages of Beckett Monthly. I once spent over $50 on a lot of cards on eBay a few years back, his collection’s book value is pushing $20,000. I received my first game-used Canseco card in 2006, Bryan currently has 353. I lost a dramatic eBay auction two weeks ago in an attempt to win my very first Jose Canseco autograph, he has 264.

As a fellow Jose Canseco collector (18 years) it is hard for me to not be green with envy but you just can’t hate on a guy who has stuck with his player through thick and thin and is a major supporter of Wax Heaven to boot. Along with his amazing Canseco collection, in a couple of months Bryan might have an opportunity to not only meet his childhood idol, but maybe even possibly work with him. It would take years to scan Bryan’s entire collection so instead, he has put together an amazing DVD, with a score and everything. It’s a little long so I imagine only Jose fans will stick through the entire presentation. If you do, you are in for a treat!

Ladies and gentlemen, Wax TV presents to you, the greatest Jose Canseco baseball card collection of all-time, brought to you exclusively by Wax Heaven.

What’s in an auto?

I have always wondered what the world’s fascination was with an autograph, specifically that of a Hollywood celebrity. One of my favorite actors is the incredibly-talented Christian Bale. To be perfectly honest, I’d much rather chat with the guy for a few minutes than I would asking him to sign a piece of paper. Of course, in the world of baseball cards it’s a little different. Nine out of ten times an autograph enhances the look of a card. In my life I have asked for only three autographs; Antonio Alfonseca, Ozzie Canseco, & Bobby Abreu. Luckily for me, all three obliged.

Recently I began obsessing over my own signature. It’s bad enough that I spend all day at work blogging for Wax Heaven, I have now been sitting through hour-long meetings scribbling the best possible signature in my book for taking notes. The truth is, I want something short but sweet. To me, there is no sweeter signature than that of future Ace, Tim Lincecum. Check out his sweet signature, which he manages to do a great job of duplicating on about 95% of his card autographs.

How’s that for short but sweet? Of course, being somewhat of a baseball card novice still, someone pointed out the signature of a rookie Kansas City Royals pitcher who came in 3rd in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2007. His name is Brian Bannister and boy would I hate to be on a dual autograph baseball card with him. It’s clear this man’s been practicing his autograph way longer than I have. So I have decided that one of my collecting goals for 2008 (yes, another one) will be to acquire a Bannister autograph through wax openings. It might not match the book value of a Lincecum mini-sig but it sure as hell will top it in class!

If anyone is wondering why I am so worried about my signature, it might have something to do with the Special Edition WaxHeaven.com best-of book that will hit the Internet sometime in mid-2008. Don’t worry, I will have my stuff together by then. Just don’t expect any Bannister-like signature anytime soon. One thing I can promise, it will look a lot better than Manny Ramirez’ scribble!